


Lifting Relations

by Fire_Bear



Series: Tumblr Requests [23]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Airing Grievances, Elevators, F/F, M/M, Neighbors, Trapped In Elevator, brief allusion to domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 17:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9133507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Bear/pseuds/Fire_Bear
Summary: Roxy's just got home from work - and now she's stuck in a lift with her upstairs neighbour who annoys her with her constant thumping...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aliesiar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliesiar/gifts).



> For the prompt: “Of all the people I could’ve gotten stuck in an elevator with and it just had to be you.”

The doors were just beginning to close when Roxy heard a shout. Instinctively, she jabbed the door hold button and waited till the person appeared, hauling two heavy carrier bags. When she saw who it was, however, she froze and wished with all her heart she hadn't bothered: it was her next door neighbour and somewhat nemesis, Gemma.

“Thank-” began the woman before she also froze upon seeing Roxy. “Ah.”

They stared at each other as the doors closed and the lift began to move. Then Roxy cleared her throat and shifted her weight, wondering if she should greet her or not. Silence descended.

And it was broken a few seconds later when there was a rending screech and the lift shuddered to a premature halt.

“What on Earth-?” Roxy murmured to herself once she had pushed herself away from the wall she had stumbled into. Glancing at Gemma, she noticed that the woman had ended up on the floor. Avoiding her, Roxy scanned the buttons and pushed the door open button. Nothing happened. She tried the buttons for the other levels but none lit up and nothing else happened. Finally, she admitted defeat and pressed the emergency call button. When nothing happened with that, she growled and turned to Gemma who was struggling to get back to her feet. Wordlessly, Roxy moved towards her and helped her up, frowning at her all the while.

“Thank you.” Gemma sighed. “Is there nothing we can do?”

“I don't know,” Roxy responded shortly. She took out her phone and, after tapping at it uselessly, she sighed and put it back. “No signal.”

Gemma checked her phone and nodded. “Me neither. Looks like we're stuck here...”

“Yeah...” Roxy chewed on her lip and stared at the bags, one of which had lost a few apples. _Of all the people to be stuck in a lift with,_ she thought to herself, _and it just had to be you._

“At least we won't starve,” said Gemma, gesturing at her bags. “And someone might try to use the elevator and realise we're here.”

“Maybe,” said Roxy, leaning against the little railing and crossing her ankles. “And here all I wanted to do was have a shower and relax after the day I've had.”

“Bad day at work?” Gemma asked, mirroring Roxy's position.

“Uh huh.” Roxy couldn't resist a jibe and added, “Wasn't looking forward to hearing you thudding around in your flat.”

“Ah. That's me going through my kick-boxing routine – my coach is preoccupied with those who are competing in the next paralympics at the moment.”

“Paralympics?”

In answer, Gemma lifted her trouser legs to show off the two prosthetic limbs. Roxy immediately blanched: every time the pair argued, Roxy had grown more and more vicious the longer she had to put up with Gemma's odd banging noises. She had never considered that Gemma could be disabled and may have been struggling to keep quiet after Roxy had initially complained about it.

“I'm so-”

“It's fine,” Gemma interjected. “Forget about it.”

“But-”

“ _Really_ . Besides,” Gemma added, frowning at Roxy, “at least my noises are early in the evening and not loud music blaring into the early hours of the morning.”

“That's-!” Roxy grimaced. “Sometimes that's not my fault. My friend... He comes here to...” Roxy trailed off and lowered her gaze, holding back the mess of emotions that Eggsy's appearances usually caused: rage, concern, despair. “He comes here to get away from things...”

“Oh.” There was a pause. “I'm sorry. I didn't-”

“It's fine,” Roxy said, smiling smugly up at Gemma. The woman laughed and Roxy thought that she seemed nicer than she had first thought. Maybe... “Hey. On Saturday, I'm having a party for one of my friends and I'm inviting some people over. Why don't you come, too?”

“What? Are you sure?” Gemma looked shocked to be getting an invitation.

“Of course. Clearly we need to get to know each other.”

“Well, we've got time now,” Gemma pointed out.

At that point there was a screeching noise and both of them jolted in alarm. They glanced at each other and, simultaneously, they gripped the railing tightly, waiting for the worst case scenario. It didn't come. Instead, after a lot more screeching, there was a clanging noise before the screeching resumed, this time accompanied by the opening of the doors. Roxy gasped and pushed herself away from the wall, hurrying to the gap.

“Hey!” she called, watching as someone pulled the doors open.

“Rox? That you?” came Eggsy's voice, sounding strained as he struggled against the weight of the doors.

“Yeah! Thank God you came along! We couldn't get a signal!”

“We?”

“My neighbour's here.”

“Right,” said Eggsy, panting with the effort. He stopped once the gap was big enough for someone to squeeze through and, grinning at Roxy, he offered her his hand. “Good thing one of the guys on this floor had a crowbar.”

Roxy looked beyond her friend and spotted a man she had assumed had only been visiting relatives the few times he had seen him. He wore a suit and a pair of stylish glasses. His hair was slicked back and he had an umbrella hooked over his arm. The man smiled at Roxy and gave a nod as she clambered out of the lift.

“Thank you,” she said to him.

“My pleasure.”

As she straightened, Eggsy leaned towards her. “How come you never told me 'bout 'im?” he demanded, frowning at her. He glanced into the lift. “And how come Miss 'Infuriating' is still alive?”

Huffing, Roxy shook her head, ponytail swinging behind her. “Shut up.” She paused. “Tell you later,” she added and moved out of the way for the gentleman to help Gemma out.


End file.
